Richard Hawkins
Richard Hawkins, Hermaphrodities
Richard Hawkins, Hermaphrodities
My interests stem from research into classical sculpture of gender ambiguity, the two obvious examples being the Roman copies of the Greek Sleeping Hermaphrodite at the Borghese, Rome and the Louvre, Paris.
Throughout, at least, the Victorian and modern eras, sculpture with more erotic content has been displayed discretely – if at all – and the Borghese installation is characteristic of this; the Hermaphrodite’s more feminine qualities are emphasized by pointing the rest of her at the wall. The Louvre sculpture, however, is displayed in such a way that one is directed toward viewing the figure’s back first and then invited to view the front afterwards, essentially making her perhaps the only classical work whose back is its front and its front its back. I find this to have an intriguing, almost allegorical relationship to both gender ambiguity and 3-imensionality.
The works completed during my stay in Albisola use the above-escribed dynamic in a series of small sculptures which, hopefully, have a complicated, anomalous relationship between an indicated front and a corresponding but conflictual back.
Richard Hawkins
Heringa/Van Kalsbeek
Heringa/Van Kalsbeek, Imprevisti controllati
Heringa/Van Kalsbeek, Imprevisti controllati
Controlling an accident is one of our major concerns. Sculpting together is a way of relinquishing complete control over the creative process. Unexpected actions made by the other are essential to the way in which a work evolves. The accidental informs and opens up new possibilities in our work. However, the circumstances should be such that these “accidents” can be transformed into new work.
In 2005, together with three students, we worked in the Studio Ernan Design, and mounted 14 elements to create a landscape. We rotated, each taking turns to work the other’s part interfering with the sculpture another had just worked on. The result was a series of sculptures we could never have foreseen. In 2006, we saw the 14 elements again. Based on extended Chinese landscape drawings, we started ordering them. Until all elements had been linked up, it remained unclear how long, high and deep the sculpture would become. Put together, an endless range of possible extensions appeared.
Heringa/Van Kalsbeek
Christina Iacopino
Christina Iacopino, Frammenti
Christina Iacopino, Frammenti. “Handmade in Albisola”, Collezione Permanente del Design Italiano, La Triennale, Milan Design Week, 2007
Runa Islam
Runa Islam, Forever Young
Runa Islam, Forever Young
I discovered the five ceramic animals that are now one half of Forever Young during my visit to the San Giorgio laboratory. They were in the storeroom at the back of the workshop, hidden in between the more general objects of plates and pots that are produced there. Except for the dust that had collected on them for the last 30 years or so, the animals had remained untouched – powder white and unglazed – just as they were when they were first laid to dry. It has been the lack of demand for these particular artefacts that has kept them in this forgotten state resembling relics.
When I first identified the animals amongst the other objects – the giraffe’s long neck and the elephant’s raised trunk – there was something strikingly animate about the figures compared to the other decorative objects. They caught my imagination, as if they were real small animals lost in the workshop’s sea of activity. Even though the original purpose of the visit to the San Giorgio laboratory was to make a new work in ceramic using the expertise of the workshop, it was the forgotten animals that left an impression on me. For the 2006 Biennale of Ceramics in Contemporary Art, the the San Giorgio laboratory, as a technical and historical repetition, recast each animal using the original moulds that date back to the early 1960s.
The second half of Forever Young are the five cloned figures that, when standing side by side next to the first set, create an uncanny characterisation of the 40 years or so that have passed between them.
Runa Islam
Ugo La Pietra
Ugo La Pietra, Salvadanai 1
Ugo La Pietra, Salvadanai 2
Ugo La Pietra, Salvadanai 3, 4
Ugo La Pietra, Salvadanai 5, 6
The Piggy bank of Albisola focuses on the territory, smiling ironically on the deep-rooted (real or supposed) “parsimony” of the Ligurian people. It has an ovoid shape, just like certain piggy banks from the 19th century in terracotta decorated in relief with roses and blooming vine-shoots. It is proposed in three versions that also allude to Albisola’s ceramic tradition: one in manganese brown, one in white-–blue and finally one with relief decorations.
Ugo La Pietra
Joris Laarman
Joris Laarman, Crossbreed
Electrical devices have a relatively short history of evolution compared to, for instance, cutlery, chairs or vases. Because most were invented after the industrial revolution, these products never had superb quality handcrafted ancestors. They are the democratic offspring of modernism. Although there is a difference in quality in these products, they never succeeded to come out of the closet to shine with pride as the centerpiece of the interior.
On the contrary, traditional vases from the Savona region can be used as a centerpiece in any interior. They have a long history of craftsmanship and are relatively expensive compared to their modern industrial brothers and sisters. But besides their decorative function, they are seldom used as functional vases. Therefore, I wanted to make a crossbreed to create a win-win situation: a beautiful centerpiece for the interior that’s functional at the same time.
Joris Laarman
Marta Laudani and Marco Romanelli
Marta Laudani e Marco Romanelli, Evidentemente fatto a mano
Marta Laudani e Marco Romanelli, Evidentemente fatto a mano
It’s difficult today to understand objects.
The affective dimension that made it possible to go through life accompanied by one’s things has been lost.
The ability to establish clear relationships between the physical existence of an object and its value has been lost.
Differences should be conserved and highlighted.
A vase is no longer only a vase: it is a vase to be described. In its realizational genesis.
That’s why the piece designed for the Biennale, as it is displayed completed, shows the hands that made it and bears the words “Evidentemente fatto a mano” (Evidently handmade).
Marta Laudani and Marco Romanelli
Corrado Levi
Corrado Levi, Enigma
Corrado Levi, Enigma
Corrado Levi, Enigma
The small work of art consists of three identical parts, in contact with each other, but made with different materials. The first is a cedar board with inlaid decorations and irregular holes alluding to thoughts and desires. The second part is a bronze casting. The third is a white enamelled ceramic mould. They are three works, but also just one.
Separately, they explore the relationship between desire and material, while together they suggest the transformation and permanence of desire. Perhaps a new tension emerges due to the diversity of the material. There is always an enigma between what one feels and what one accomplishes.
Corrado Levi
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